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Welcome! Raising Birds is a Beautiful Blessing...Let's discuss the fun and foibles of rearing small exotic birds...Celebrate when eggs hatch and commiserate when they don't. Rosy Bourke and Scarlet-chested or Splendid Parakeets are the main focus. May this blog entertain and encourage you. Peace & Blessings.

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Friday, November 12, 2010

Splendid Parakeet Portraits, Scarlet-chested Neophema's

Rainbow, son of Merlin & Millet. Now our old Patriarch.

The flash reflects off their faces making them look turquoise
like their shoulders, however, their faces are actually a dark cobalt blue.

I love my birds and tend to cover much more about Bourkes than my Splendids. That’s probably because I have 22 Bourkes right now, 19 Rosies and 3 normal’s. No doubt that’s why I successfully raise more Rosies than Splendids, hmmm?

Yet, my clownish, very fun Splendids deserve attention too! I only have two hens, but have four male Splendids, all in their normal wild color.

Rainbow is the father of two of our other males, Flip and Rainbow Junior. Handsome Rudy came to us in a trade for one of Rainbow’s other sons in order to introduce genetic diversity.

Although Splendids don’t sing as lyrically as a Bourke parakeet, they do call back and forth to each other, especially the two bachelors who want mates of their own. Not an easy feat to find them though.

If you keep birds, you’ll find the colorful Splendids lots of fun. They love to tear up paper, play with toys and are crazy about swings! They like taking baths, and water cups are just another plaything for them.

You can see some of the shiny, dark cobalt blue of his
face under his beak. The wing color is correct, but their
faces are actually very dark blue, almost black.

Photos at right and below are of Rudy. Hole in nest box doesn't have to be so big. They adapt to various sizes.

They do like to put things in their water! Change their water dish at least once a day or more, and provide them with another source too. A tube of water on the side of a cage works well. It isn’t as likely to be splashed out. Keep an eye on it too, however, because it is likely they’ll make soup in the basin of it as well.

Here is a better depiction of a Splendid's true face color.

As an afterthought, here are other relevant photos, even though they've been posted in earlier articles.

These are young Splendids. Hen is below.
Males above do not have all their scarlet color yet.

Young Male Splendid with a young male Normal Bourke (in wild color).

Very young Splendids. Actually there are four males and
one hen in this cage, but their color hasn't come in yet.
At the time the photo was taken, I didn't know their sexes.
As they matured, the hen had to be removed as she was so outnumbered.

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